Seven45 Studios reveals agreements with Dave Matthews Band, Eric Clapton, and Kid Rock to provide exclusive music to real guitar powered rhythm game Power Gig, along with the innovative Airstrike drums that will accompany said real guitar.

When Power Gig was first revealed back in March, I had a feeling it would find strong support from bands and music artists who shunned Guitar Hero and Rock Band's use of fake plastic instruments. That feeling turns out to have been right on the money, as Seven45 Studios outs a trio of big names that have signed up to provide music exclusively to the game.

There are strings on the newly-unveiled Power Gig guitar, which is coming, with a brand-new music…
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The Dave Matthews Band explains the reasoning behind backing Power Gig over those other music games.

"We think Power Gig is a much needed and much welcomed game because, unlike any others before it, it puts a real guitar into the hands of aspiring musicians, and we hope it inspires our fans and others to start playing even when they're not playing the game," said Dave Matthews Band. "We love the thought that fans of ours who've never picked up an instrument can now play our music on a real guitar and experience what we love to do day in and day out."

Kid Rock echoes their sentiments.

"I was never interested in pressing buttons on a guitar to entertain myself or anyone else," said Kid Rock. "The reason I signed up with Power Gig is because this game is a way to not only have fun, but also to play real notes on an actual guitar! Anyone can now rock out-even if they have never shredded before in their life."

Each artist will provide multiple tracks to the game, though the names of those tracks has yet to be revealed.

And then there are those Airstrike drums. They might look fake, but they actually allow for a more natural drumming experience than the other games do, without the noise. The Airstrike pad is a sensor that can lie at your feet. You drum in the air above the device, with drum sticks that have sensors inside that can tell which is left and which is right. That recognition should give drumming a much more realistic feel, even if it is glorified air-drumming.

"We know that people may be skeptical of the AirStrike drums at first glance when they see there's no actual drums and can't understand how that's a match to our SixString guitar which is a fully-functioning electric guitar," said Seven45 Studios Chairman and CEO, Bernard Chiu. "But we also know that as soon as people sit down to play it, they are going to see how much more real and authentic it feels to be moving much the same way true drummers do when they play, without the limits of the drum kits already on the market. Just like our guitars, the AirStrike drums are a step forward for authenticity in the band game genre."

It looks better every time I see it. We'll have more on Power Gig at E3 next week.